Configuring Radio Stations and Exploring Music from Xbox

Modern-style apps have governed almost every aspect of Windows 8.1 and if you are a music fan who would like to get all the latest hits on your machine, you can use the Music app for this purpose and that’s what we will be learning in this tutorial.

Accessing the Music App

Windows 8.1 has a good set of built-in modern style apps which can do a lot of useful stuff that will get you become more productive than ever. There’s the Mail app that can link all your email accounts to it and the People app which can consolidate all your contacts from different social media and email accounts into one easy-to-access place so you can get in touch with them quickly every time you need to. Another very useful app to those who really love listening to songs is called “Music” and just like all the other built-in apps, you can access it from the Start Screen. To do this, simply press the Windows Key or click on the Start Button at the bottom-left corner of the screen and once the Start Screen appears, simply click on the tile that is labeled “Music”. The Music tile is the one that has a headset icon on it and it looks like the screenshot below.

WindowsTechies_1056

Listening to Radio

You surely are used to satellite radio and other such stuff but in the new Windows 8.1 operating system, there’s a new way of listening to your favorite hits and you can get access to it using the Music app. When you are connected to the Internet, you can listen to your favorite artists by using the “Radio” feature in Windows 8.1’s Music app. To take advantage of it, all you need to do is open the app and click on the “Radio” link located on the navigation pane at the left of the app’s main screen.

WindowsTechies_1058

Once the radio section opens, simply click on the “Start a station” link located at the middle portion and a screen will appear containing an input box where you can enter a name of an artist that you want to listen to.

WindowsTechies_1063

The Music app automatically searches for Internet radios that matches the artist name which you entered and return the results on the same screen where you can scroll down and select by clicking or tapping the appropriate result. After configuring your own Radio station using the songs that you included in it, you’ll be able to access them again the next time you click on Radio from the navigation pane. You will not need to keep creating and configuring another Radio station each time you want to since all the ones that you’ve created will be saved and you can always play them by simply clicking on the corresponding item that appears after you click on “Radio”.

WindowsTechies_1061

NOTE:

You need to be connected to the Internet if you want to use the Radio feature on Windows 8.1’s Music app and once you see the appropriate result after you do a search by entering the artist name on the box provided, you will simply need to click or tap on it and the music will just play. Be aware that if your Internet connection is quite slow, playing the music you selected from Radio will not be as smooth as you expect it would since it will keep on buffering each time so the best thing to do is to download or purchase the song and have it saved in your machine’s hard drive.

Changing the View and Accessing Songs in an Album

Go to all the music saved in your hard drive by clicking on the “Collection” link at the navigation pane at the left and click on one song that has complete details like its artist and album then play it. After doing so, go to the bottom-left corner of the screen and click on its thumbnail as you can see on the screenshot below.

WindowsTechies_1065

After doing so, the album to which the song belongs to will open on the Music app’s content pane and from here, you can choose to play all the other songs that are listed on the screen simply by clicking or tapping on the “Play album” button located at the middle portion of the screen just below of the album and the artist name.

WindowsTechies_1068

Listen to Music on Any Windows Device

You can listen to all your favorite music even when you are using a different device like your tablet or smartphone that runs in Windows. To do this, you will need to match all your music with the ones that are on Xbox. You might also need to get an Xbox music pass to really have all the privileges which are needed so you can use the Music app to its fullest. Once your songs gets a match from Xbox music, you will be able to access each one of them on your other Windows device for as long as you are signed in to the same Microsoft account that you used in your Windows 8.1 computer.

Finding Some Music to Purchase

There are many ways in finding some music to purchase and enjoy using the Music app. You can either browse what’s new or check what’s on top of the charts and you can also search by track, album and even artist name. To learn how this is done, simply follow the steps below.

1. Open the Music app’s main page and click on the “Explore” link located on the navigation pane at the left edge of the screen.

WindowsTechies_1070

2. After doing so, the Music app’s content pane will show some album covers and as well as thumbnails showing the artists and as well as the latest albums that they have. From here, just click on the thumbnail of the album which appeals to you most and all the songs under it will be displayed on the screen and you can choose to buy the whole album if you want. If you have an Xbox Music Pass, you can listen to the songs in an album for free but of course you will need to pay a subscription price. However, if you really want the album or song to be saved on your machine’s hard drive then you will need to purchase it. The album price appears on the middle portion of the screen just below the album and artist description.

WindowsTechies_1073

Just click on the album price which also happens to be a link at the same time and you will be led to the screen where you can make payment and download the album into your machine. Just follow all the steps that appears and you’ll surely be good to go.

Enjoy All Your Favorite Music Anytime, Anywhere

As you can see, Windows 8.1’s Music app allows you to get all the latest hits and even your favorite songs on your Windows machine without the hassle of using browsers. It also allows you to have all your favorite music stuff synced into a cloud so you can enjoy them on your other Windows 8.1 devices. Take time to explore this very useful entertainment app and you’ll surely love be satisfied of the results just as I did!